Airbrush...neccesity Or Novelty?

Decorating By yelle66 Updated 29 Oct 2008 , 4:49am by jenny518

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yelle66 Posted 21 May 2008 , 12:26am
post #1 of 35

I'm putting in my kitchen this month and I have a little extra that I wanted to get another stand mixer with and possibly an airbrush, but I just don't want to waste my money if it is just an item that will be used every so often. How often do you find yourselves using your airbrush?

TIA,

Danielle

34 replies
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Karabear1125 Posted 21 May 2008 , 1:20am
post #2 of 35

Good Question, I was wondering this myself. I hope someone comes along and can give their input.

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FromScratch Posted 21 May 2008 , 1:34am
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I'd say it REALLY depends. I use mine all the time to paint gumpaste flowers.. but it isn't a necessity. What do you want to use it for? If it wasn't for my gumpaste work I'd never use the thing.

I wanted to add too that if you plan to use it for painting on a cake just know that it takes practice to get good at it. It's not something you can take out of the box and start using well. Be prepared to hate it for a while.. icon_wink.gif

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tlreetz Posted 21 May 2008 , 1:36am
post #4 of 35

I have an airbrush for my business. I don't have your typical airbrush though. I have a Pasche brand that you find in the oil painting section of craft stores and a compact air compressor from Menards. The airbrush was $19.99 and the compressor was $50. I use Kroma Kolor airbrush colors for regular colors and Lucks brand colors for Gold, Silver and Pearl.

I use my airbrush on EVERY cake I make. If I do not use it to airbrush color, I use it to airbrush pearl on the finished cake. I can not live without my airbrush!! I LOVE IT!!

you can click on my website and see my designs. Every single one has airbrushing on it.

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mpaigew Posted 21 May 2008 , 1:42am
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I'm with tlreetz; I use my airbrush on pretty much every cake/cupcake that I make, usually with luster or pearl dusts. I finish almost every cake I do with a coat of pearl...it gives it such a nice finish.

To me, it is a necessity...I couldn't live without it!

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peacockplace Posted 21 May 2008 , 1:55am
post #6 of 35

For my sculpted cakes it's an absolute necessity!!! You just can't get the depth and detail without it.

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FromScratch Posted 21 May 2008 , 2:00am
post #7 of 35

Oooh I totally forgot about carved cakes.. good call.

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Tona Posted 21 May 2008 , 2:00am
post #8 of 35

It is a necessity. I love mine . Great investment.

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weirkd Posted 21 May 2008 , 2:04am
post #9 of 35

Im with Jeanne. When I first bought mine I thought to myself Why did I spend money on this thing? Im never going to use it! But the more I played with it, the more I liked using it.
I dont use it on EVERY cake but I do use it for giving some of my gumpaste flowers an all over color before I do the "in depth" coloring of them.
So I would say you would have to decide how many cakes you do and if it will end up paying for itself or not. If your just a hobbyist, then I would say it isnt a necessity. But if its a business, then I would say that you could produce more or better products with it.

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mcook1670 Posted 21 May 2008 , 2:09am
post #10 of 35

I like to use mine to paint the color on the fondant instead on kneading it in sometimes, especially on dark colors because it takes so long. i love it i got my compressor for free and i bought a cheap airbrush. It works really well

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TexasSugar Posted 21 May 2008 , 2:20am
post #11 of 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by yelle66

How often do you find yourselves using your airbrush?




The question is how often do you think you would use one. How many cakes do you do that you wish you had one? Or how many cakes do you work on that you think an airbrush would have made it better/easier or what not.

I have one, and while I like it, I haven't used it near as much as I could have. There are pros to it, because I can use it to put luster dust/pearl dust on a cake or gumpaste bow quickly. The cons is I have to pull it out and clean up all the over spray when I am done. icon_smile.gif

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BCJean Posted 21 May 2008 , 2:39am
post #12 of 35

I also use my airbrush on almost every cake I do. I make all of my flowers from buttercream and use the airbrush to add dimension to them. I make a lot of sheet cakes and air brush a background scene or shade in around the border. I too use it on all of my dimensional work. I think it gives a professional look to any cake you do.
I don't think you would necessarily say, okay on this cake I would have used an air brush. I think until you have one and start seeing the results of using it you would probably not miss it.
I use very few gadgets when decorating but my air brush I would hate to do without.

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yelle66 Posted 21 May 2008 , 11:53am
post #13 of 35

Its kind of hard to answer how much I would use it since I've never had one. I mostly just wanted to make sure its not one of those things that looks really fun, but will sit and collect dust. I do love what I've seen that some people do with them and I will be doing some sculpted cakes coming up.

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FromScratch Posted 21 May 2008 , 12:21pm
post #14 of 35

You could grab a Preval Sprayer and see if you like what an "airbrush" does. They are UBER cheap and you can play with it without making a bigger investment.

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RMF73 Posted 21 May 2008 , 2:00pm
post #15 of 35

I also am thinking about purchasing an airbrush. My question is, what do you use for the color? Is it edible paint or food coloring mixed with something else? Since I do my cakes for hobby, I may just get the preval sprayer - that was a good suggestion - but what do I fill it with???

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Karabear1125 Posted 21 May 2008 , 2:12pm
post #16 of 35

I think I may just try the preval sprayer too just for right now anyways, but can you just fill it with the alcohol and luster dust and spray? Thanks! Do hardware stores sell this too or just online?

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weirkd Posted 21 May 2008 , 2:54pm
post #17 of 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by RMF73

I also am thinking about purchasing an airbrush. My question is, what do you use for the color? Is it edible paint or food coloring mixed with something else? Since I do my cakes for hobby, I may just get the preval sprayer - that was a good suggestion - but what do I fill it with???


You buy special made airbrush paint or you mix the dust colors with alcohol or extract to put it in there.

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RMF73 Posted 21 May 2008 , 3:26pm
post #18 of 35

Thanks! Is there a certain brand of airbrush paint you could recommend please?

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FromScratch Posted 21 May 2008 , 4:22pm
post #19 of 35

Americolor makes airbrush colors and Kroma Color does too. I mainly use petal dusts diluted in alcohol in mine.

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audrey0522 Posted 21 May 2008 , 8:16pm
post #20 of 35

THis may be a stupid question but . . . it sounds like the compressor is the expensive part. My husband has a large compressor out in the garage. Could I hook up a sprayer made for cakes to the large compressor to paint cakes? I am thinking I could just have it by the back door to use in the kitchen. Thanks!

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yelle66 Posted 21 May 2008 , 8:47pm
post #21 of 35

Audrey, I think you would blow the frosting right off. LOL. I think it is supposed to only be 30 psi working pressure but I don't know that for sure. Both parts can be fairly expensive depending on what brand you get. I know the KopyKake one that I want is pretty pricey just for the airbrush part of it.

Danielle

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audrey0522 Posted 21 May 2008 , 9:01pm
post #22 of 35

Didn't think of that, It would be a mess! I will check and see if the power or pressure on it can be controlled.

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Amia Posted 21 May 2008 , 10:11pm
post #23 of 35

Check eBay for a small, cheap one. That's where I got mine. I figured for $70 it was a good starter and if I don't end up using it alot, it wasn't a huge waste of money. If I love it, I will have a compressor and can upgrade to a better airbrush. I haven't used mine yet though, so I can't say if it's a necessity or not. I know there have been lots of times I wish I'd had one, so I think once I get the hang of it, I'll love it...I hope! icon_biggrin.gif

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kidsnurse Posted 22 May 2008 , 2:48am
post #24 of 35

I'd like to get a Badger since its USA made. They have so many models available I'm getting confused. Anyone have this brand and have an opinion on which model is a good choice for a cake hobbyist?? Hel

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kidsnurse Posted 22 May 2008 , 2:48am
post #25 of 35

sorry, that should have said help!!

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mcook1670 Posted 15 Jun 2008 , 2:52am
post #26 of 35

most large compressors don't spray well at low psi icon_sad.gif > iad one and used it until I got one from work, they didn't use it so i asked if I could have it

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eriksmom Posted 15 Jun 2008 , 3:11am
post #27 of 35

I just purchased a powercat airbrush last night on ebay. i can't wait to use it!
when mixing a dust with alcohol, how liquidey do you make it? when i make the mixture to paint with a brush, the stuff seems to dry up fairly quickly. does this happen with the airbrush too?

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Kitagrl Posted 15 Jun 2008 , 3:23am
post #28 of 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by peacockplace

For my sculpted cakes it's an absolute necessity!!! You just can't get the depth and detail without it.




Yep I was gonna say... I don't use mine necessarily every time I do cake but when I need it....I NEED IT! Especially when I do 3D cakes, and ESPECIALLY animal cakes. Or cakes I need a bright vivid color. Or pearlized....or a nice even silver or gold bow, something like that.

Kind of like my edible image printer....I was kind of regretting that I bought it because I didn't use it as much as I thought...but sometimes I'm doing a cake, and I'm SOO happy I have it, and can print out a little picture or logo or something like that that adds to the cake.

My point isn't to get either one, my point is just that you might not use every cake tool every time you decorate, but some come in MIGHTY handy, and IMO the airbrush would be one of those things.

Even tiered cakes...I did a dance party cake in my photos and was able to use the airbrush on buttercream to go from a lighter bottom to darker top...stuff like that you can't do with just icing...you could do with fondant and a paintbrush but it takes forever.

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Jenn123 Posted 15 Jun 2008 , 3:18pm
post #29 of 35

I couldn't live without my airbrush! I use it ALL the time. Once you learn to use it, you will come up with all kinds of new ways to do things. I often ice my shaped cakes white and then put all the color on with airbrush. This is especially handy for red and black, because it won't make it bitter and messy when they cut it.

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Wendoger Posted 15 Jun 2008 , 3:36pm
post #30 of 35

Most definately CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT.
You cannot use the one out in the garage eithericon_wink.gif
They do make regulators to lower the psi but I think garage models are just too behemothicon_wink.gif

You can use regular gel colors but you HAVE to mix them with vodka to thin'em out.

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